Handling of the butter is also kept to a minimum to preserve its quality. Having it handled and produced by hand helps lessen any damaging impact to the butter.

Churning: to transform the Cream into Butter. During this stage, repeated vigorous mixing isolates the fat globules and binds them together to form grains of butter. Over the centuries, the way in which we make our Butter has changed very little. The cream is churned to form small grains of butter, which are washed with pure water and then kneaded until a smooth texture is obtained. Do you enjoy our selection of French butters ? Feel free to browse through our complete catalogue. This list includes milk products, various cheeses and a wide array of French dairy products that will enchant your most demanding clients ! Source the tastiest unsalted butter and PDO butter here The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Or in my case the starter, with which I first ate Echiré at the Delaunay restaurant in London last year. The butter was served in the form of a slim pat alongside a freshly baked, raisin-studded roll. It was unexpectedly delicious, outshining even the bread. I realised that for me, butter had become just something to spread on toast or to cook with, instead of a food in its own right.

Oil & Vinegar. Deli-cious

Even though the “premier cru laitier de France” label protected our Isigny Butter for some time, the battle continued into the 1980s. At this time, official recognition of the quality and the terroir of Isigny became a matter of urgency. Its benefits for human health: Our milk has a high mineral salt content, particularly sodium, and high concentrations of micronutrients. These are substances that are essential for healthy and balanced growth. It is also a source of vitamin A, contributing to the growth of bones and teeth, and protects against infection. Many French butters are still made in accordance with the oldest culinary traditions. The production of Echiré butter in Poitou-Charentes, for instance, still includes the use of wooden butter churns ! These ancient tools give its delicate hazelnut flavour to this product, which holds a PDO (protected designation of origin) label. This study made it possible to speed up the process of obtaining the prestigious French AOC label, with the butter finally being granted the European PDO in 1986. Our PDO Isigny Butter must therefore be produced within a precisely defined geographical area of 175 municipalities around Isigny-sur-Mer.

Butter is a relative latecomer to the artisan food movement compared with the boom in traditional breads and cheeses, where provenance and original production methods are major selling points. butter’s appeal lies in its delicate, creamy and distinct flavor – a recipe that has stayed true to its roots since 1894, made at the same independent dairy near the cities of Poitiers and La Rochelle in Western France. It contains more butterfat (82%) than normal butters and has a higher melting point. This trait makes it especially good for delicacies such as croissants or puff pastry, which need rolling out several times. When it comes to describing a cuisine, stereotypes are usually never welcome. But if there’s one widespread truth we know can confidently repeat when it comes to the French, it’s that they have perfected the art of cheesemaking. And so it should come as no surprise that another French dairy product, butter, is among the best in the world. The milk used to produce Échiré butter comes from 66 farms, all within a 50 km circumference. The cows enjoy the same grass and climate. With Échiré butter the area of origin is so defined, its flavour is traceable and distinct. Échiré is produced with a huge amount of care and attention to detail, but the fact that it is from a small area in France comes across when you eat it. You can taste the difference.He prefers to buy his butter in massive slabs, because the less it is interfered with, the better it tastes. Butter should be kept in the fridge, he says. Storing it at room temperature may make it easier to spread, but just a few degrees' fluctuation will compromise the taste. Its colour: The presence of carotenes, precursors of vitamin A, in the lush grass of the region’s pastures, produces the natural buttercup colour of our butter. The fresh spring grass gives it a bright yellow colour and a softer texture. Depending on the season, PDO Isigny Butter will therefore not have the same colour, which is a sign of fine quality. The French love to start their day with some bread and salted butter. Their favourite lunch is often a Parisian sandwich. Also called a « jambon-beurre », this simple treat consists of a sliced baguette filled with ham and spread with butter. For dinner, it is common in France to serve fish with butter-sauce or mashed potatoes with hot butter.